S alted cucumbers are very well known in the north and east of Germany. These are cucumbers that are preserved through lactic acid fermentation. With the right instructions, you can also pickle cucumbers this way.
How can you properly preserve s alted cucumbers?
To preserve pickled cucumbers, you should thoroughly clean fresh pickled cucumbers, place them in jars or stone barrels, add ingredients such as dill, garlic and bay leaves and pour a cooled brine over them. Then cover the cucumbers with a cloth and weight and allow lactic acid fermentation to take place at room temperature for about six weeks.
The production of s alted cucumbers
You need fresh and firm pickling cucumbers. Either you harvest the cucumbers from your own cultivation or you buy the required quantity at the weekly market at harvest time. When preparing s alted cucumbers, one does not speak of preserving or preserving them, as the cucumbers are not cooked in this type of preservation. The preservation occurs through a special type of fermentation process.
- Clean the cucumbers thoroughly, preferably with a vegetable brush.
- You can soak the cucumbers in a little s alt for a night and then rinse them with water before using. However, this step is not absolutely necessary.
- Prick holes in the cucumbers with a toothpick and place them in large, clean jars or stone barrels.
- Now you can add all the other ingredients. Depending on your taste, the following ingredients are suitable:
- Dill
- Horseradish
- garlic
- Pepper and allspice seeds
- Laurel and/or grape leaves
- Prepare a mild brine with 100 g of s alt and boil it once.
- Pour the cooled brine over the cucumbers.
In the jar or barrel, the cucumbers are now covered with a previously boiled cotton cloth and weighed down with a stone or piece of wood that has also been sterilized. It is important that the cucumbers remain constantly covered by the brine. Now cover the container and store it at room temperature. The pot must not be sealed airtight so that the gases produced during the fermentation process can escape.
After some time, lactic acid fermentation begins. You can get this process started more quickly if you place a piece of bread on the cloth in the barrel or jar. If you bake bread regularly, you can also add some sourdough. Fermentation generally takes about six weeks. The result is a mildly s alted, slightly sour cucumber that contains a lot of vitamin C thanks to the special fermentation. If you want to remove the cucumbers from their container, use clean tongs so bacteria don't stand a chance.
